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In its most recent approach, the comet Crommelin passed the [#permalink]
10 Oct 2011, 07:39

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In its most recent approach, the comet Crommelin passed the Earth at about the same distance and in about the same position, some 25 degrees above the horizon, as will Halley’s comet the next time it appears.

From what I know it is ok to omit a verb only if the exact same verb in in the sentence.The omitted verb here is "pass" but in the sentence there is only "passed". Why this is ok?

In its most recent approach, the comet Crommelin passed the Earth at about the same distance and in about the same position, some 25 degrees above the horizon, as will Halley’s comet the next time it appears.

From what I know it is ok to omit a verb only if the exact same verb in in the sentence.The omitted verb here is "pass" but in the sentence there is only "passed". Why this is ok?

Ellipsis is a fairly complex and often subjective. A quote from the article link you posted :

...In GMAT-land, the switch in verb tenses is not OK when you’re omitting verbs, but the switch in a comparison (I walk faster than Brian [walks] ) is sometimes acceptable if it is in the best option and it’s clear what the two things compared are....

Here we are comparing paths of two comets and since the context is clear we can live without the verb.

Example 1: He has the same score as Jack. -- Correct - since there is no ambiguity. He has the same score as Jack has. -- Also correct.

Example 2: I like dogs more than my brother -- Incorrect. Here the context is not clear as to whether "I like dogs more than I like my brother" or "I like dogs more than my brother likes dogs." Here we need the helping verb.